Fundraising of the Year – Large Cap (Fund size - $2 billion and above)

The Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VIII (Baring Private Equity Asia)

Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) closed its eighth pan-regional fund on USD 11.2bn in September 2022. The fund launched in the first quarter of 2021 with a target of USD 8.5bn, a step up from the USD 6.5bn raised in the previous vintage. That target was hit within a matter of months, but BPEA kept the process open longer to broaden the LP base. Of the 180 LPs, 70 are new relationships and they account for 25% of the corpus. The fund is the second-largest pan-regional vehicle ever raised for Asia. BPEA agreed to merge with EQT in March 2022.

BGH Capital Fund II (BGH Capital)

BGH Capital has closed its second fund on AUD 3.6bn (USD 2.6bn) in March 2022 after fewer than six months in the market. It represents the largest-ever private equity vehicle raised for deployment in Australia and New Zealand. The fund launched the previous autumn with a target of AUD 3bn. The LP base is like that of Fund I – which closed on AUD 2.6bn in 2018 – comprising public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and family offices. BGH targets primarily mid-market investments, while maintaining the flexibility to execute large buyouts or smaller growth deals.

Blackstone Capital Partners Asia II (The Blackstone Group)

The Blackstone Group closed its second Asia fund at the hard cap of USD 6.4bn in December 2021, beating a reported target of USD 6bn. The fundraising process lasted approximately 14 months. The vehicle is nearly three times the size of its predecessor, which closed on USD 2.3bn in 2018. Blackstone follows an Asia ex-Southeast Asia strategy, prioritising control transactions, which account for the bulk of its private equity activity in the region. Targeted sectors include healthcare, technology, consumer, financial services, and value-added industrials. There have been four investments to date: Crown Resorts, Nucleus Network, Interplex, and VFS Global.

FountainVest Capital Partners Fund IV (FountainVest Partners)

FountainVest Partners raced to a first close of about USD 1bn on its fourth US dollar-denominated China fund in October 2020. By mid-2021, it had locked in USD 2.2bn. Then external forces intervened. Regulatory uncertainty in China sent shock waves through the technology sector, triggering a sell-off in public markets, and LPs started reconsidering their allocations. FountainVest spent 20 months in the market, eventually closing on USD 2.9bn, which was just above the original target. Not all LPs re-upped, but those that did upsized their commitments from the previous vintage. Most of the 10 largest LPs opted for double-digit increases.